Musical Beach Balls

Musical Beach Balls

Years ago, I stumbled upon a great idea from a colleague. She had taken a beach ball and written musical symbols on it. She explained that the students used it in a game similar to silent ball to help students reinforce concepts learned in class. I liked the idea but I took and modified it to work in my classroom. I started by taking the idea of one giant ball and changed it to themed balls. This made much more sense to me, as it would allow me to use them all to reinforce specific items. Moreover, I changed the game slightly; instead of the students sitting on tables I had them sit in a giant circle. This allowed them to roll the ball to an individual rather than throw it at full force. I have listed the balls below along with a brief description of each. Enjoy.

Musical Beach Balls

This activity uses the musical beach balls which were made for my music room. The balls are split into 12 terms. Each term has a corresponding number that correlates to the list below. I usually toss the ball to the students. Whatever their left thumb lands on is the item that they must identify.

Dynamic Ball –For this ball students will identify the dynamic symbols on the ball. Grades 3-5.

1. Mezzo Piano

2. Forte

3. Piano

4. Fortissimo

5. Pianissimo

6. Mezzo Forte

7. Crescendo

8. Decrescendo

9. Accent

10. Marcato

11. Pianississimo

12. Fortississimo

Instrument/Genre Ball – For this ball students must identify what instrumental group the instruments belong to. They must also identify genres by artist groupings. Grades 3-5.